The Coward's Way Out
by nedcans
Summary: In which Alfred gets drafted during the Vietnam War, and escapes to Canada. There he meets a logger named Matt, who changes his life far more than the prospect of Vietnam.


Alfred through the stack of letters onto the table. Since he didn't work or go to college, he helped as much around the house as he could. Getting the mail was one of his daily chores. Normally they were bills, and letters to his parents from friends. Since Alfred rarely got mail, he usually didn't glance twice at the stack. But that day, Alfred decided to flip through the letters for some unknown reason, and was surprised to see an envelope with his name on it.

Since he was so excited to actually be receiving mail, Alfred tore it open without even looking to see who it was from. Maybe it was from an old friend, or his high school sweetheart. When he opened the letter, and read its contents, however, his face dropped and all his excitement left him. His heart fluttered, and he fell backwards into the kitchen chair, unable to speak or even move. He just clutched the letter tight in his hand, hoping that if he could crumple it enough it would disappear completely.

Alfred didn't move, or even think, for three hours. The only reason he moved then was the sound of his brother gasping and letting out a light "Shit, Alfred." Without thinking, Alfred repeated the word dreamily. "Shit…" He moved the fingers of his right hand, and the paper was gone, and Alfred let out a sigh of relief. He had done it, the paper had disappeared. He allowed himself to relax, before he glanced to his brother and saw that he had smoothed out the paper and had read it. A sense of fear flooded Alfred again.

For some reason, Alfred reached out for the paper. He knew that his brother had already read it, already knew what was happening. But he plucked it from his hands anyways. If there was any chance, even the slightest chance that his 15 year old kid brother didn't know that Alfred had received that letter, he was going to keep it that way.

"You're going to Vietnam. Alfred..." His brother seemed like he wanted to go on, but he didn't. "I know." Alfred didn't know how else to respond. "When do you go?" His brother asked. "I have a medical screening in 10 days. And if I pass, I go to basic training the next day." Alfred had only read the letter once, but every detail of it was ingrained in his mind. His brother sat beside him at the table.

They sat in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Alfred's brother broke it. "You have to fail the medical screening." He said, and Alfred looked at him strangely. "What?" "Fail the medical test! It's a foolproof plan!" His brother exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've got a clean bill of health. I was the high school football captain, for god's sake. I'm a grade-a draft pick." Alfred said dejectedly. He had all but accepted that he would be in Vietnam in a few short weeks.

"Go into it drunk. I know a guy who's cousin's boyfriend got totally hammered when he was drafted, and he failed and got to stay home." His brother offered. Alfred shook his head. "That's an urban legend. They'll take me drunk or not." Alfred replied, and his brother didn't say anything in response besides another quiet "Shit."

And for the next week, Alfred's brother came up to him every day with new idea of how he can dodge the draft. "How about you apply for college?" He said on the first day. "Too late for that now." Alfred said.

"You can cut off a finger," was his suggestion on the second day. "I don't know if that would really work, and I'm not risking having to lose a finger _and_ go to Vietnam."

"Pretend to be gay?" was what he said on the third day. "They don't care. They just want soldiers. They wouldn't believe me anyways."

"You're a pacifist." His brother said on the fourth day. "No prior history as a pacifist. Won't work."

"You wear glasses. Maybe that will keep you out?" came the fifth day. "I'm not blind. I have 20/20 with my glasses."

"I can't think of anything else, Alfred. I'm so sorry." His brother said solemnly on the sixth day. "Yeah. I know."

On the seventh day, Alfred was about to tell his parents that he had been drafted, and that he was leaving in 3 days for the physical, and most likely would go to basic training immediately afterwards. That is, until his brother ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm as he was walking into the kitchen to spill his guts. "Dude, let go. I'm telling them. They deserve to know." Alfred pushed his brother, but he wouldn't let go. "I have one last way you can dodge the draft." He said, looking his brother straight in the eyes.

That caught Alfred's attention, and he stopped struggling against his brother. "What is it?" He expected his brother to tell him something stupid that wouldn't work, but he wanted to hear it anyways. "Canada. I can get you passage to Canada but you have to leave tonight." His brother said seriously, and Alfred shook his head. "Are you serious? You're 15. How could you get me passage to Canada?" Alfred replied. He didn't want to be so blunt, but he was at the end of his rope, and he was angry.

"My friend. Ludwig. His brother got drafted, same as you, and he's going to Canada. I talked to Ludwig and his brother said you can come with him, but he's leaving tonight." His brother said, and Alfred's eyes went wide. He shook his brother off, and went to his room, his brother following. "You have to go, Alfred! Otherwise you're going to Vietnam!" His brother whispered, not wanting his parents to overhear. "You think I'm a big enough coward to dodge the draft? That I would go off to Canada so everyone in the whole goddamn town will talk about me? So I would never be able to come back to the country I love so much?" Alfred whispered back angrily.

"You'd rather die in Vietnam than live in Canada." Alfred thought it was supposed to be a question, but his brother said it as a statement. "Yes." Alfred said defiantly. "I know you, Alfred. And I know that you don't support this war and that you don't want to go. Why the big hero act? Just go to Canada! At least you won't die there, at least you can keep being my fucking brother!" His brother raised his voice to a normal speaking voice.

That shocked Alfred. Bad enough to make him stop arguing for a moment and let his brother talk a bit more. "The guy's name is Gilbert. He's going to come, tonight at midnight, I've already got that settled. You can choose to go with him or you can tell him to fuck off, I can't make you make the choice. But let me tell you my advice: you pack a bag and you go. Alfred, if you love me and Mom and Dad, you will get in the car with Gilbert and drive up to the safehouse in north Ontario and you will wait out this war. You'll stay alive."

"I won't-" Alfred was out of his shock, and starting to argue back. "You won't nothing! You will die in Vietnam, you and I both know that! You are not a fighter!" His brother said, and in the dim light of Alfred's room he almost saw tears in his eyes. "Tonight. Midnight. Get in the car, don't look back. It's your last chance." His brother said, and walked out of the room.

A car pulled into the driveway right at midnight, just like Alfred's brother said it would. Alfred didn't have a bag packed, he had decided that he wasn't going to get in the car. He knew that he was going to go to Vietnam. He was going to go to outside to tell Gilbert to go, that was all he was going to do, he thought to himself as he quietly put on shoes and went out to the car.

"Come on in, bud. We're 4 hours from the border, we've gotta make good time." Gilbert said. Alfred looked him over for a second. He was Aryan, and had a peculiar accent. German, maybe? Either way, he was an immigrant. "I-I don't think-" Alfred tried to tell him, but Gilbert cut him off. "Are there rocks in your head? Get in the car!" He commanded, and, despite the fact that Alfred had told himself that he wasn't going to go, he got in.

"Good boy. We're Canada-bound." Gilbert said, and pulled out of Alfred's driveway. Alfred felt like he was on autopilot as he pulled on his seatbelt and got settled into the car. "Gilbert," the blonde introduced himself. "Uh, yeah. I know. I'm Alfred." Alfred said in reply. "I know that too." Gilbert smiled. Alfred still felt strange. He wasn't sure why he was in the car. Why he was doing this when he promised he wasn't going to. "Well, Alfred. Looks like you and me are going to become very good friends." Gilbert said after a tense silence as they pulled onto the highway, driving north as fast as possible without risking getting pulled over or crashing.

Alfred still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. He was only sure that they were speeding towards freedom, and that he felt less tense than he had in days.


End file.
